Associate Director / Head of Virtual Reality
Dipl Ing, Dipl Arch, BDA
London, UK
Helmut Kinzler
Photograph by Frederic Aranda ©
Photograph by Werner Huthmacher
Helmut joined ZHA in 1998 and has contributed to key architectural, design, and exhibition projects, including the Lois & Richard Rosenthal Center for Contemporary Art in the US, the Phaeno Science Centre in Germany, and the Tokyo Blossoms exhibition in Tokyo. His current focus is the development and realisation of high-end residential projects.
Under Helmut’s leadership, the ZHVR Group has developed VR design workflows, including immersive design techniques and networked visualisation tools for internal and external presentations. The group’s work has been widely featured in publications and exhibitions, including participation in a Horizon2020 multidisciplinary project.
Photograph by Hélène Binet
Featured Projects
From an artificial crater-like land-scape developed inside an open exhibition space in Germany, to an art centre that uses a series of polished, undulating surfaces and galleries that are expressed as if they had been carved from a single block of concrete in Cincinnati, discover highlights of Helmut's notable projects at ZHA.
Courtesy of ZHA
Project Correl, MUAC, Mexico City 11 Dec 2018 - 3 Mar 2019
Research
Collaborating with leading hardware and software developers, ZHVR Group focuses on producing and implementing VR design tools, platforms, and applications for design teams and clients; researching VR’s aesthetic potential and ability to enhance architectural design; and engaging with the public to promote understanding of VR’s broader cultural role.
Photograph by Roland Halbe
Helmut completed his Diploma of Engineering in Architecture from the State Academy of Fine Arts (ABK Stuttgart) and his Diploma in Architecture at the Bartlett School of Architecture (UCL). Since 1997, he has been teaching at the Bartlett and attending critiques at various architectural schools across the UK and Europe.
Projects
Explore a selection of projects Helmut has contributed to since joining ZHA.
Photograph by Werner Huthmacher
Culture
Described variously as ‘an architectural adventure playground’ and ‘the magic box’, Phaeno realises our continuing vision of creating ‘complex, dynamic and fluid spaces’ – from the gently undulating artificial hills and valleys created below the main elevated structure, to the crater-like museum floor, naturally lit spaces and accessible funnels within.
Photograph by Roland Halbe
Culture
Our free-standing building for the Contemporary Arts Center provides space for temporary exhibitions, installations and performance. Conceived as a dynamic public space, an ‘Urban Carpet’ leads pedestrians into and through the interior space via a gentle slope, which becomes, in turn, wall, ramp, walkway and even an artificial park space.
Render by Line Creative
Products
LOOP marries the highest resolution audio of L-Acoustics’ Immersive Sound Art (L-ISA) with ZHA’s signature design language and the studio’s ongoing development of innovative new concepts.
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